Mend & Make Well

Mend and Make Well is an ongoing, participatory artwork about the material items we cherish that tell the stories of our lives.

All are invited to bring or mail items in need of mending. Jessica mends, photographs and records the the personal stories – a favorite memory, experience or emotion captured in cloth. She teaches and shares historic traditions of fabric craftsmanship and repair, sustainability and conservation to the public. She sets up her mending station at festivals, parks, exhibitions and other community locations, where she mends items for free, using traditional machine and hand sewing, darning, knitting and crochet techniques.

Jessica is currently hosting Mend & Make Well repair workshops this summer in Hamilton and the surrounding region and will exhibit the stories and memories in the installation at the Art Gallery of Burlington for the Can Craft? Craft Can! for the Canadian Craft Biennial August 19 – October 29, 2017. Mend & Make Well was featured in Yukon News, July 2015If you have an item to repair and would like to tell the story of your belongings, or would like to host a workshop, please contact her. Thank you.

Mend & Make Well storytelling suggestions for clothing or items in need of repair. Participants are welcome to use the storytelling questions below share their stories. Or write their own story.Please introduce yourself, what is your name, what do you do?What is your item in need of repair?Describe what the item looks like, how does it feel, what is the texture, what is the style, it’s fit?How was it made? Where is it from?Where did you get it? Was it a gift?
Did it belong to someone else, and what is your relationship to them?
How do you feel when you wear it?Why have you kept it?What needs to be mended?How did the damage to the item happen?What is the history of the item?What happened to you when you wore it?What memories does it hold?What do you think of when you see or wear it?.